I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers

Someone To Tell It To is very excited and privileged to be partnering with Open Stage, a premier Harrisburg, Pennsylvania theater company, in bringing the original play, I’m Proud of You, to the Harrisburg region, from March 22, 2025 through April 12, 2025. 

Open Stage is a regional professional theater and educational program dedicated to supporting a company of artists to present diverse offerings of thought-provoking theater and educational activities in intimate settings.

I’m Proud of You is a perfect fit for both Open Stage’s and Someone To Tell It To’s missions. 

The play is based on the book, I’m Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers, a nonfiction memoir by Fort Worth, Texas journalist Tim Madigan. It is the story of his friendship with Fred Rogers, the creator of the iconic American children’s television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, during the last seven years of Mr. Rogers’ life. 

During a time when Tim was living with depression as his marriage was falling apart, his relationship with his father was fraught and distant, and his younger brother was dying of cancer, Mr. Rogers supported Tim emotionally, and reminded him that, no matter what, he was “proud of” Tim for who he was. That support sustained Tim through his brother’s death, and as Tim began to repair the relationships with both his wife and father, and ultimately, with himself.

This book was foundational as the inspiration for the creation of Someone To Tell It To, in 2012. It was the first book we read together and it led to establishing the values upon which Someone To Tell It To was founded, and upon which we still always stand and serve. Through the book, we reached out to Tim Madigan and formed a close friendship with him that has been maintained through the past 12 years.

In November 2023, we were invited by Tim, as his special guests, to attend the play, I’m Proud of You, in Fort Worth, where it premiered. What an honor it was to be part of the audience, to meet the local cast and director, and to witness a very special work of art. It is a beautifully moving, tender, and evocative account of Tim and Fred’s relationship and how it transformed the brokenness in Tim’s life. We are proud to endorse it and to collaborate with Open Stage to bring it to Pennsylvania, the home state of Fred Rogers. 

The gentleness, compassion and empathy, authenticity, graciousness, and kindness that Fred Rogers exhibited throughout his life and in his enduring work are gifts we try our best to embody and emulate through our own work and lives. Though we are imperfect vessels of Fred Rogers’ spirit and legacy, we hold him as a hero because he saw each person as sacred persons of worth, meaning, and value, no matter their life circumstances. He exhibited unconditional grace, respect, and love toward everyone whom he met and everyone - young or old - who watched his programs, read his books or stories written about him, or heard him speak on stages and in interviews. I’m proud of You exemplifies those profoundly beautiful and desperately-needed gifts in the lives of all of us, as we do our best to make our way in this world. 

I’m Proud of You will be a featured production during Open Stage’s annual Good at Heart Festival, next spring. We believe this play, along with the other offerings of the festival, will provide a welcome gift of hope and inspiration for the Harrisburg community and beyond, especially in these emotionally- and relationally-challenging times. We believe deeply that I’m Proud of You, along with the other offerings of the Good at Heart Festival, is an antidote that is profoundly needed for us all. 

And, one final bit of news for now. Because of the incredible advocacy of Tom, who believes he is perfect for the role, Michael was offered an opportunity to audition for the role of Fred Rogers in the production of the play. Michael received the part and is honored beyond compare to have been given it. The opportunity to embody the spirit of your hero is the joy of a lifetime!